A New Beginning
by DeltaMouse
Summary: Lauren has to forget her past and everyhing that happenend in Arizona. In New York she wants to find a new life and maybe a new way of living. But this is way much harder than she thought. No firends, noone even to talk to. One day everything changes. Is it because of this cute young watchmaker she met or because she found out that there are people in the world with special powers?
1. The past and now

_This is my first FanFic ever – so please be nice ;)  
I grabbed out my Box of Heroes and was so fascinated by it (again!) that I needed to write something down.  
Hope you enjoy it and I would love to hear some feedback_

_Introduction_  
-

Lauren took a deep breath. Finally it was over. He paid for everything he did to her family.  
Walking around the dead body that was lying on the floor, Lauren started shaking. She just couldn't stop it. This was her own father ! And she killed him. Although he was an evil man without the ability to love he still was her father. Her only ancient.  
This was more than crazy. She remembered playing in the backyard with him and how he cooked dinner for her and her older sister Tessa since her mother died in a car crash. It was just the three of them then. _This really could have worked out_ she thought.  
But the other memories flashed her mind. How they three sat together watching a movie while her father touched Tessa's knee. Back then, she was too young to understand what was going there. She always saw fear in Tessa's eyes and thought it was because of the movie. _How stupid I was. _And then the screams came to her mind. _Tessa, Tessa, whats going on? _But little Lauren couldn't go and look for her sister as her father locked the door.  
This went on and on for years. Since Tessa was simply too broken.  
It was a month ago when Lauren came back from her classes (she studied Psychology at the University of Arizona) and her sister didn't answer the door.  
When she went up the stairs she had a bad feeling in her stomach. Opening the door to Tessa's room, she just saw her hanging there. Dead.  
Instead of panicking Lauren kept calm and cut her sister down. She knew that someday something like this would happen.  
When her father came home and saw the both lying on the floor he creamed and yelled. But he didn't cry a single tear. He walked around the room as if he was looking for something.  
-_Did she wrote a letter? Have you seen it? Is there a fucking letter, Lauren?  
- Why is this so important to you? She's dead and we both know why ! She's now at a better place and now piss off ! _She never screamed. Instead she was a small, sweet girl. But at this moment all her anger and frustration broke out of her.  
Her father came closer raising his hand, but he couldn't do it. He never did it. She was his littler girl and Tessa wasn't. He never touched Lauren or hurt her.  
And every night she wondered why and she wished that this time he would stop hurting Tessa and take her instead.  
But he never did and she never rebelled. Why?  
At this day the police came into their house and Lauren could have taken the chance to speak out the truth. But she was simply too weak for it. It was like her father had such a big power on her that it wasn't possible for her to talk freely. In a way she wanted to protect him – and while thinking this thought she felt miserable.  
She didn't saw her father for three day then. Probably he went to several pubs and slept at some friend's crib who tries to comfort him.  
All the time she read Tessa's letter (which Lauren found in Tessa's hand right after she cut her down)

_Dear Lauren,_

I'm so sorry that everything has to end this way. I wished it would be different.  
We never had that close connection sisters had but I know that you loved me and I hope you know that I love you, too.  
Back then, you were too young to understand what was going on and I tried to keep that away from you. I just wanted to protect you but now I'm sure that you can do it on your own.  
Please, do not cry or fall into a block hole. This was my decision!  
I don't expect anything of you – only that you don't forget me.  
I'm going to see mum and I'm so excited.

I love you, Lauren

Tessa

P.S: Do what you're stomach tells you. Noone is gonna judge you !

And on this day her stomach told her to do the only thing that was right.

When the police came she finally could tell all the story. With her father around her it was simply impossible to do so. But now he was dead. She killed him by hitting him with a rock on his head.  
Of course, there was a process against her but she was stronger now and could overcome it.  
She was spoken not guilty and this it was. This was the end of her story in Arizona.

-

6 weeks later – New York City

Lauren felt simply great and free. She started from all over again and could now live the life she wanted in the best city ever – New York City.  
She found a nice apartment, which she only could pay for because she sold the house in Arizona and she started going to University again. Since it was her last year she just had to write her final paper. That meant she could stay at home a lot with her beloved laptop and just enjoy her life.  
The only thing that bothered her was that she was not good with that 'social thing'. So most of the time she really was alone in her apartment.  
She was not that kind of girl who likes partying a lot – that was sure. But some interaction with other people would have been nice from time to time.  
_Stop pitying yourself ! Go out and do something! _She said to herself.  
Her inner voice sometimes was quite forcing bu nevertheless it was right. She couldn't just sit there and wait for a miracle.  
Maybe she will go out for a shopping trip (although she is not the type for that) or she just drink a coffee and walk through the Central Park. This is New York, there must be something to do.  
When Lauren walked through the streets at this sunny day in New York all her doubts and bad thoughts flew away. _This is Life ! This is MY life ! And I can write my own story now! _All of a sudden she simply started to smile as if she heard a good joke. Life could be so easy and meeting people won't be to hard as well.  
While wandering around a poster caught her eyes that was posted on a fence near University.  
"Activating Evolution – a discourse of Dr. Chandra Suresh"  
Lauren remembered that she read this book sometime ago in Arizona. It was quite interesting since it said that human being can have some kind of special powers.  
Although she didn't believe what she read she was interested by Dr. Suresh's thoughts and why he came to such an idea.  
This was exactly her kind of entertainment. A good book, a discourse in the evening.  
_You're so lame, Lauren_ This inner voice was so right. But it really did interested her. And above of all she could meet people there. So why not?  
This evening at 8.00 p.m. at the University. So there were still some hours left to drink a coffee and to eat something. Lauren didn't like cooking so much, though.  
Lauren looked at her wristwatch, which was the only heirloom of her mother, to check the time but she recognized that the clock hands were not moving. _Oh wonderful!  
_Well, she assumed that there still was time to get it fixed anywhere and so she started searching. At a little corner, there was a sign saying "Gray & Sons – Watchmaker".

_Oh, this is destiny _Lauren thought. When she entered the store a little bell rang. Everything looked so tiny and old here. Like in a kind of wonderland story.  
Lauren loved being here immediately because among the hectic life of New York City there was this tiny little store where time went slower.  
Suddenly a young man stood up. He wore big glasses, a plaid shirt and a grey slip-over. _A bit like a conservative grandpa _Lauren thought and smirked a little.  
_What can I do for you, Miss? _He asked in soft voice. When Lauren came closer she could see the man's face a bit better. In some kind of way it was quite handsome. His shy eyes were of a deep brown and when he smiled there were little dimples on his cheeks. _Sweet  
Hello _Lauren smiled _You kind of could say that you're my destiny. My wristwatch doesn't work anymore. The clock-hands aren't moving and it would be great if you could fix it.  
_The young man looked at the watch with scrutiny. The suddenly he smiled, almost laughed a little. _Well I don't really have to fix something here. The battery is just empty. I'll exchange it with a new one, Miss._  
Lauren was glad and a bit embarrassed. She could of course have fixed an empty battery herself.  
_Thank you. _She watched the man how he "repaired" her watch and then he gave it back to her.  
_No problem. You're not from New York, right? _He did he know that?  
When he saw Lauren's wondering face he said _You just don't seem to fit in this hectic lifestyle, that's all. _He said and smiled.  
_Ehm.. yes, you're right. I'm from Arizona. _She didn't really know what to say and there was a long pause. It seemed like this man wasn't good in this "social-thing", either.  
Lauren didn't want to have a talk about Arizona – this was her best. This man was really cute and she could have had a little small talk but she felt uncomfortable now. He recognized it and immediately said _I didn't want to distract you, sorry. You have probably a lot to do. So goodbye and take care of your watch.  
_Still unsure what to say Lauren just whispered a shy _Goodbye _and then left the store.

This was strange and it was not the man who was. Lauren was now angry of herself. She had the aim to find new people and then when there was a chance to talk to someone she felt like an ice bear in Africa.  
The next few hours before the discourse started Lauren walked around with no special goal. There were a lot of questions in her mind and the elation she felt this morning was gone.  
_Why can't I just talk normal to people? Is it possible to start a new life without thinking of my past?  
_And the she thought of the young man. There was something interesting about him. Although he looked like if his mum chose his clothes he still seemed attractive. Maybe it was in his voice or in his deep brown eyes but Lauren had to smile a lot when she thought of him.


	2. My Mind is Playing

Still a bit confused Lauren went to listen to Dr. Suresh. Thanks to her well repaired watch she entered the auditorium at about 7 p.m. So there was still enough time for her to let her mind play around a little. Lauren always laughed to have little mind-games. Especially when she was bored her thoughts wandered around like if they had their own will.  
The handsome face of the young watchmaker flashed to her inner eye. These deep brown eyes really made you melt. And this black glasses fit him very well. Lauren remembered his cute little smile and her heart could not stop beating. _Lauren, what happened to you? You just saw this guy for about 2 minutes and you didn't really show your best side. He probably forgot about you. _Her inner voice was right. There wasn't any chance that she could change that situation.  
Once again she felt alone. But why did she now think of this man? He was just an average guy who she just speak a few words with and who simply just did his job.  
And why was she so shy and under-confident when it comes to 'social-things' ?  
When she continues with that she probably would die alone.

Still blaming herself for being such a loser the auditorium was slightly getting filled. Right before the discourse there were about 50 people in the auditorium. _Poor Dr. Suresh. He had a long way from India and now he talks in front of not even a full hall.  
_As Dr. Suresh entered the podium there was just a silent applause. And Lauren felt a bit ashamed. Of course this was not her No. 1 'spend-the-evening-activity' but she thought that Suresh's ideas would get more people into interest. Lauren kind of felt forced to listen to every word that the middle-aged Indian would say now.

"_Ladies & Gentlemen,  
thank you for your interest. I'm glad that so many of you came here tonight to experience a whole new worldview" _the Dr. said.  
The next 15 minutes he told the audience why he wrote the book and how his researches went on. It was more or less boring stop and Lauren had to stop herself from playing a little mind-game with Mr. Deep-Brown-Eye. _Just a few minutes, you'll have fun _her inner voice said and after a short inner conflict, which Lauren lost she caught herself thinking how -Brown-Eye would call her name while they were having some good time. It was like they were having a dinner in a fancy restaurant. Lauren was wearing a tight red dress and her long brown hair fall to her shoulders in waves. Their eyes were meeting and Lauren could feel a pleasant shiver around her stomach. -Brown-Eye wore a nice suit. Casual but not like if his mother dressed him. All in all he looked astonishing and the way he smiled made Lauren hear angels sing. In the next sequence of her mind-game she saw herself in her apartment but she wasn't alone. Face to face with the handsome watchmaker she could feel his fingers caress her back very softly. Then they shared a deep intense kiss. Everything went on really fast then. Lauren just could see and feel some short sequences which started and ended abruptly. There was her bedroom and the sound of deep breathing. Then a well-toned sweaty shoulder. Next time Lauren just felt a strong feelings mix of lust and exertion._  
_And then all of a sudden she woke up promptly as if she fell down an edge in her dream.  
_Oh God! How long have I been asleep? _Lauren looked at her watch.  
8.30 p.m. , so still time to pretend listening to the discourse.  
Lauren kind of felt really embarrassed but on the other hand there still was this shiver around her stomach which made her feel good.

_And now I talk about my result that there are people in the world with special powers like telekinesis or flying. _It was Dr. Suresh talking and Lauren could see that all night he waited for this chapter of his discourse. His excitement jumped over to Lauren.

_It is possible that there are people around the world whose gens are different from us "normal" people. You could say there is something like a mutation there.  
Because of that it is really imaginable that someday average people will start to grow special abilities. They are able to start a whole new life !  
At the moment I'm actually searching for some of these people who probably don't know what they are going through.  
_Among the audience there was a slight laughter. But Lauren just thought of the sentence "they could start a whole new life". This is what she wanted so bad. Start all over again. Was ist possible for her to get some of those special abilities? That would be great. Fly around like Superman for example. Everyone would envy her. Or she could be super fast so that she could just run away in an embarrassing moment. _That would have been great this afternoon._  
Lauren didn't really know what to think of this ideas. Dr. Suresh seemed like a very smart man but this sounded awkward to her. If they were really people who could fly around then why haven't Lauren ever seen one.  
Maybe Dr. Suresh was a visionary who just wanted to break out with a new idea. But all in all he gave Lauren hope that it was OK to believe in something better.

After the discourse Lauren hoped to have a little talk with Dr. Suresh but he went away quite after his speech. So Lauren just went home with many thoughts flying around her mind. There was this hope for a better world in which she could start all over again. Her past should not influence her anymore since it was gone. The future would be her new present now.  
When she opened her door and entered her bedroom she remembered her little mind-game and everything that happened there and here in her bed.  
It was really intense and it made her body shiver like she ate a nest of butterflies.  
_Why don't I just meet this man again. I know where he's working and I can try to build up a better conversation. But do I really want this? Or do I just like my little mind-game?  
_Again she remembered this beautiful deep brown eyes and with this picture in her mind it was easy for her to have a good and relaxing sleep.

When she woke up the next morning she was a bit disappointed of herself. She couldn't remember a single dream she had that night and Lauren could swear that these haven't been nightmares.  
So what's going on this day? Lauren was still unsure if she should just enter this tiny little store again to see Mr. Deep-Brown-Eye. In fact she just like dreaming of this man like if he was not real.  
Therefor she decided to stay at home and to finish her paper or at least to work on it. There were still 30 pages to go and every word was a torture for her.  
Sometimes she liked writing big texts and sometimes she had the feeling that studying was a really bad decision. But today she felt like it was the best idea to start writing and to have nice lonely day at home.  
After a long shower and a mingy boring breakfast (fruit loops and a glass of orange juice) Lauren prepared her desk for working. That meant her laptop, a big bottle of coke and some chocolate bars. Easy but effective.  
But at first she had to get her "brain-food" since her fridge was just kind of decoration in her kitchen.(Lauren simply hated to cook) Fortunately there was a little kiosk right on the other side of the street. So she put on her trainers and knotted her hair quickly and messy.  
Lauren's apartment was on the 12th floor of a huge concrete building. And although there are so many people living here you feel so alone since you don't know a single soul.  
The only exception is Mrs. Robinson who lived next door. This old lady was a really lovely woman who sometimes brought Lauren a little meal that she cooked. But beyond that Lauren knew anybody.  
This morning Lauren decided to walk down the stairs. She could have chosen the elevator as well but sometimes it scared her a little. In those old buildings it wasn't seldom that you stuck there.  
On her way down Lauren counted the steps and looked down her feet. It was nearly like a dance because the sound of her trainers touching the steps was quite rhythmic.  
By her steps Lauren couldn't see the man who was walking upstairs and she just crashed into him. Fortunately the man reached out a hand so that Lauren won't fall. _Oh, I'm so sorry _she said and when she looked up she could see those deep brown eyes which made her body shiver.  
Immediately her cheeks blushed.  
_Hey, you're the girl from Arizona. How's your watch working?_He smiled and Lauren nearly sink into the stairs.  
_Good, thank you__. _She pressed out. _So, what are you doing here? Do you live here?  
__Yes, Appartment 304b. And what about you?__  
1205A _Lauren said confident. It wasn't that hard to get into a conversation._  
Well then, Mr. 304b. When my watch is broken again I know where to find you. See you.  
_Then she blinked a little and just continued her jumping way downstairs._  
__Instead of calling me Mr. 304b, you can call me Gabriel. Gabriel Gray__. _The man shouted after Lauren.  
_  
_Her heart was beating so fast that she had to stop halfway. Mr. Deep-Brown-Eyes had a name. Gabriel.  
And in all her sense of delight she noticed that she forgot to tell him her name. _Great job, Stupid_ her inner voice said. But Lauren didn't care since she now knew that she wanted to meet Gabriel again and then there was still the chance to tell him her name or whatever he wanted to know from here.__

So, what do you think until now?  
Any ideas how this will continue?

I would be glad to hear some feedback  
because this is my first fanfic :P

By the way I'm sorry if my English sucks a little.  
I'm from Germany ;)  



	3. This IS really happen

Studying was quite difficult this day since all Lauren could think of was Gabriel. But in the end she had to do something for her final paper. Lauren was some of those persons who, if they only begin to study, simply forgets the time. It must have been about 8.00 p.m. (Lauren was working for about 10 hours now) when suddenly someone knocked on the door. Like she was bitten by a snake Lauren jumped up. _Wow, I must have been in a studying trance or something. 8.00 p.m. ?! Oh my God!_  
"Who's there?" she asked. "It's me. Gabriel" Her heart stopped beating. "Ehm.. I'm coming. Just one sec." She looked in the mirror and recognized how messy she looked right now. _How embarrassing!  
_But she had to open the door._ Well then, let's go._  
When Lauren opened the door she stared in those beautiful dark brown eyes and at this moment she forgot about her looks or about her studying.  
"I just wondered ehm.. if you well.. " Gabriel stumbled and Lauren knew that this was hard for him – as it would been for her, too. "If you already ate something this evening. Studying must be kind of ehm.. " He watched her look ".. exhausting, I think."  
_Oh yes, this was more than embarrassing._ "Yeah, it's hard. I'm sorry for my messy dress." She tried to smile but it was such a forced one and Gabriel knew that he made her feel uncomfortable. "Oh no! Please, I am sorry. I didn't want to interrupt you. The thing is.. I cooked today and it is simply just to much. And I thought maybe you wanted to come over so we can talk a little. But I can understand that it doesn't fit in your today's schedule, I'm sorry"  
Lauren was simply perplex. This guy wanted to have a dinner with her. Well,ok, it wasn't a real date or something like this. But it was a beginning. And YES she wanted to come over to his apartment and talk a little. It's been a while since she had a nice conversation.  
"No no, everything's fine with my schedule. Just give me 10 minutes to fix myself." She laughed and he did, too. The first ice was broken.  
"You can wait here if you want. But I'm sorry for this mess." Gabriel entered the apartment and shyly waited in the living room while Lauren went over to the bathroom to refresh herself. "Oh, I see you read a lot" Gabriel said in a loud voice. "Yeah, a good book is sometimes better than medicine." She responded.  
Standing there in the bathroom Lauren smiled the biggest smile she ever has made. This guy was so sweet and polite. And today she was going to get to know him better. She was so exciting and when she put on her black vintage jeans with her blue tank-top the embarrassing feeling was gone.  
"Ok, I'm ready to go." Lauren entered the living room and when Gabriel saw her he said with a little smile. "What a transformation."

0oo0

His apartment was similar to hers, ignoring the fact that his didn't look like a post-apocalyptic mine-field. It was really tidy; everything got its place and Lauren was even a bit afraid that if she touched something she would destroy some order. So more or less she just stood there watching.  
"You seem to be very neat, I like that. Now I feel a bit ashamed of my rat-hole", she laughed and he did, too. "Well, most of my time I spend on working in the shop so most of this stuff has never changed his place." Gabriel smiled and while doing that his deep brown eyes caught hers and for a little second time was timeless and the world seemed to stop rotating.  
"So, you're hungry?" He asked and when Lauren nodded heavily he directed her to the living room where he table was already laid and a little candle flickered. _So, this is a date! And hell yeah, I do like that._ Lauren's inner voice nearly screamed of excitement. But Lauren decided not to ask him whether this was a date or not – although this was obvious. She enjoyed that a man showed interest in her that he cooked and laid the table for her.  
"Well, sit down and feel comfortable. I hope you like lasagne?" he asked nervously. "Yes, I love it." Lauren smiled and for a moment she wondered why she felt so self-confident with Gabriel. Her shyness nearly was gone and she had no problem with that.  
While Gabriel was in the kitchen Lauren looked across the room in order to find out something about this handsome man. There were a lot of books, old ones and new ones and between an redaction of "How the Mind works" by Steven Pinker and "On Intelligence" by Jeff Hawkins (which were by far really important books for psychologists and sociologists. And Lauren was amazed that Gabriel was interested in that.) she found Dr. Suresh's book "Activating Evolution" .  
_Hey, this was a good topic to talk about._ In her fascination about this similarity she didn't recognized that Gabriel had come back from kitchen and sat in front of her. "Wine?", he asked. "Yes, please."  
They started to eat and in the first minutes none of them spoke a word. And it was Lauren who opened the conversation. "Wow, you're a good cook. It's really delicious." "Oh, thank you. My mum taught me." he smiled. _God, this is cute._ "So, you have a strong connection to your mum?" Lauren asked. She was really eager to get to know everything about Gabriel. "Yes, we're close. Since my father left us we're on our own." "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." "Well, you don't have to be sorry. I mean I barely know that man and my mum and I lived a good life without him. I don't feel sad." But Lauren knew that this was a lie and that there was something in Gabriel that wanted so bad to live a life with a father. But she didn't continue asking about it. Everybody got his secrets and she was no exception. "And what about your family?" She knew that this question would come. "Well, my mum passed away when I was a kid and since then it was just my father, my sister Tessa and me." And when she saw his sad look she immediately said:" But we came along with this very well."  
"And what does your family say about you living so far away from them in New York?"  
She had to lie. It was just too soon for the truth. She hadn't told anyone yet and she decided that this would be better for her. "Well, they're OK with that. You know, we don't share so much contact." She wanted to end this topic of the conversation very soon. "Oh, I see.. well, then. I don't dig further." He tried to smile. There was something in his eyes that took away all of Lauren's insecurity about her past. With him she simply felt good. And though this was so easy to say it meant a lot to her.  
"So, I saw that you read Dr. Suresh's book. I visited his lecture last week. Really smart, charismatic guy. How did you like his theory? Do you believe that there are people with special abilities?" Hopefully he really read the book and could say something. Lauren loved to have such conversations. About other things than her personal life.  
"Wow, no one ever asked me." Something in his voice changed. His nervousness seemed to be gone. "Well, I do agree with his theory and I believe that there can be people who are special. It would be wonderful to escape this normal boring life." Gabriel eyes wandered far away and Lauren had the feeling that he dreamed about be special. "And what about you?" He asked. "It's hard for me to imagine that there are people which are like superman or spiderman, but I like the idea of it. But I don't think that a normal life is so bad. And in the end everybody is kind of special." "Like you are", he said in a soft voice. She smiled at Gabriel and this time when their eyes found each other this invisible strong erotic tension between them nearly killed Lauren. She wanted to do things to Gabriel that she just imagined in her mind and she wanted him to give her aching longing for him an end. This was torture but she couldn't just jump over to him and go on working. This could just take place in her mind. For the moment.  
The facts: She was totally amazed by Gabriel Gray. They share some interests. He seems to like her as well. But she wasn't sure if he felt this erotic tension, too. It was just too dangerous to risk something at the moment. Although she wanted him so bad!

She had to escape this atmosphere of lust, because otherwise she couldn't stop herself.  
"I.. I need to go. The paper and studying, you know. Hard stuff and I'm not finish yet. And I need some sleep. Was a hard and long day and, well.. you know.." It felt like the temperature has risen here and Lauren sweated. More or less because the said the words _hard_ and _long_ in one sentence and her mind cinema now played a movie that made her longing for Gabriel unstoppable.  
"Ok, if you need to go. I understand that. Those studying must be exhausting for you. Hope you liked it." He smiled bright and Lauren could see that Gabriel sweated, as well. _God, he was longing for her, too!_ "Yeah, I liked it. Think we have some similarities. And I enjoyed this date very much." _Oh no, did she just said "date"? Damn!_  
"It was obvious, right?" Gabriel said without being nervous. Lauren just smiled shyly. "But I did like it as well. Very much. Well then, I accompany you outside." Slowly, as if they didn't want to let this walk end, they went to the door. Lauren turned around and looked up to Gabriel. "Thank you for this nice evening." "Oh, I have to thank you. Goodnight then." He leaned forward and embraced Lauren. "Goodnight", she whispered. She didn't want to let this embrace end. Normally something like this was done in about 3 seconds but it took nearly 10 long seconds for them to end up this embrace. Lauren smiled a last smile and slowly turned around in order to go. But when she was about to take the first step Gabriel grabbed her arm, turned her around and softly pressed his lips onto Lauren's. In her mind there were a million fireworks and she answered his kiss with her tongue. Pressing herself towards Gabriel she could feel every muscle of his body. But she couldn't take this to the next level. Not yet. So she took a step back, smiled and said: "I would love to repeat that."  
Then she went back to her apartment and let Gabriel in his desire alone.  
All he could do was giving her a pout which was followed immediately by a little smile.  
"Me, too" he said in a hushed tone.


End file.
